Chemistro: Acid Burns
by Impurest Cheese
Summary: Tate Williams returns home to find her enemies quite literally on her doorstep. Will she be able to protect her family from the coming danger or will she be forced to make the ultimate sacrifice. Set between Task Force HAMMER: Line of Fire Chapters 4-8.
1. Prolouge: Homecomming Hero

Under the flood lights the Air Botswana Jet touched down on the tarmac of Maun International Airport. After a few minutes after the plane had stopped the doors opened and a set of steps was pushed up to the BAE 146 allowing the passengers to disembark from the plane. One passenger in particular stood out from the others, her dark green hair tied into a French Braid that brushed the back of her T-Shirt that had the Africa First Logo emblazoned on the front. Shivering slightly she headed to the terminal with all the other passengers. From the shadows away from the main runway the HYDRA agent assigned to watch the airport transmitted the data back to the forward command post buried deep in the nearby Okavango Delta.

"Madam Hydra," the agent addressed the small screen attached to the Accelerated Pulse Rifle he carried, "The target has arrived."

"Good," the woman replied, "Commander Kraken link up with the rest of your men and get ready to move on my command. Remember the target is not to be engaged until I give the command, and above all the items she stole from us must not be damaged or Baron Strucker will have your head."

"Understood Kraken disengaging." the HYDRA agent replied slipping away from the airport.

After a forty five minute wait at the airport to get through customs and reclaim her baggage the green haired woman left the building towing a bag and clenching a cub of coffee as she headed to the rental line to pick up a car, she would almost certainty return it tomorrow, but due to exhaustion it was a lot easier then walking home. After leaving JFK almost twenty four hours ago she had only a ten minute drive before she was home. Yawning the woman downed the rest of her coffee and slipped into the driver's seat of a battered Opal Astra. Switching on the internal lights she swore as she realised that whoever had last driven the car had almost completely drained the fuel tank. Removing a wooden case from her bag the woman slid out of the driver's seat and walked round to the back of the car and opened the fuel cap before sliding the lid of the case back to reveal a hideous looking device comprised of needle tipped tubes connected to a flamethrower nozzle. Wincing in pain she stabbed the primary feeder tube into one of the old partially healed scars on her arms the needle sinking into the vein underneath. Securing the straps the woman fired the bizarre wrist mounted weapon into the car for around twenty seconds before closing the fuel cap and heading back to the car. Looking at the fuel gage, the needle now sat at the half full marker on the dial, more then enough to get her home. Starting the engine the woman left the lit terminal and headed into the dark African night towards home.

Ten minutes later the Opal Astra pulled off the dusty road towards an old ranch house with a stainless steel fence tipped with razor wire surrounding the property. Pulling up to the drive the woman stopped an armed guard carrying an AK-47 walked up to the driver's window.

"ID please?" the man asked.

"Here you go Nelson," the woman replied handing him her passport, the wrist gauntlet flashing in the security light. The man opened the passport and smiled a massive grin on his dark face.

"Ms. Williams nice to see you back, how was New York." Nelson said cheerily.

"You don't want to know." the woman commented, "And how many times have I told you to call me Tate. Your practically family Nelson you know that?"

"Just remaining professional," Nelson answered, "its good your home, we have had some trouble recently with General Marani, his men have been attacking the convoys full of malaria tablets and other medicines and then have been ransoming back the drivers."

"Marani is getting desperate if he's resorting to kidnapping aid worker, the Botswanan Armed Forces and the SADF must be closing the net." Tate stated, "What happened to the drivers are they safe."

"Five were rescued by the military, one is dead, the doctor sent a letter of condolence and the usual compensation package." Nelson answered, "I won't keep you any longer you look like your going to drop any second from exhaustion."

"Thank you Nelson, I'll see you tomorrow morning." Tate announced.

"It's already morning," Nelson answered cheekily, "but I know what you mean, have a good night Ms. Williams."

Tate drove the Opal up into the grounds of her house, the front decorated with a sign bearing the Africa First Logo, a red Africa cupped in dark hands, before parking the rental car in the garage next to the pair of Yamaha Dirt Bikes and a Blue Toyota Hiluk. Removing the bag from the car's boot she locked the vehicle and headed through the door in the back of the garage into the house. Passing the staircase into the underground labs Tate slipped off her walking boots and trod across the cold kitchen floor past her snoring Saluki Hound Rosy and into the lounge where a man sat reading the paper under the spotlight.

"Morning Daniel." Tate said as the man looked up from the paper his eyes widening in surprise.

"Tate, thank the lord for a minute I thought you were her." Daniel replied getting up from the chair his muscles rippling under the spotlight as he gave her a four armed hug. "What are you doing back so soon?"

"Missions over, Osborne decided I wasn't needed." Tate replied as Daniel let her go, "I had to do a Viper impression while I was away and the damm hair dye won't come out, I've tried everything to remove it." she added. "How have Tara and Matthew been?" she asked.

"Reasonably well behaved, Matthew had a cold a few weeks back but nothing too serious. Tara got into a fight last week; she used her powers on a group of boys making fun of Matthew for being a mutant." Daniel explained, "I made her apologize and promise never to do it again."

"I worry about her at times. She just seems to go from being a well behaved girl to well, being like us when we were her age." Tate said sadly.

"We turned out alright in the end though." Daniel reassured her, "We have to hope she will as well."

"Are they awake?" Tate asked.

"Matthew is asleep, Tara is still up but every time I walk past I see her turn out the light and pretend she's sleeping." Daniel informed her, "Go, we have plenty of products in the inventory; we still have enough to last a few more weeks."

"Thanks Dan," she replied kissing him on the cheek, "Are you coming to bed?"

"Not tonight Tate, you look exhausted." Daniel answered. Tate crept up the stairs and passed the ornate double bed she shared with Daniel before closing the door to Nelson's quarters, hopefully the guard would be okay, despite his cheerfulness he knew too well how many people had died guarding this compound over the last eight months. Passing past Matthew's room Tate was tempted to sneak in and see her son but she wisely chose to let the four year old sleep. Up ahead the glow of a light could be seen under the door and Tate sighed, she had hoped that Tara would settle down but four years down the line and the ten year old still couldn't sleep the night. Tate guessed it was probably the nightmares, she remembered the ones she had after she defected to SHIELD of Strucker, Viper and the Red Skull and what they had done to her. As she turned the handle the light vanished as Tara used her powers to remove the light from the bulb and put it in the jar beside her bed, the speck floating like a lone firefly in the darkness.

Tate entered the room and went over to the sleeping form before whispering, "I know you faking."

"Mum?" Tara asked squinting in the twilight, "Why is your hair green and why do you smell like gasoline?"

"Had to fuel the car." Tate answered, "As for the hair I was dragged to a costume party, I dressed as She-Hulk and while the body paint washed off the hair dye hasn't yet."

"Have you finished working in New York?" Tara asked.

"Yes I won't need to go back for a while. Auntie Tasha sends her best though and says that next time we go to America she'll get us inside Avengers Tower for an exclusive tour." Tate told Tara. "Now I want to hear about the fight you had."

"It wasn't my fault; they were teasing Matthew for having powers." Tara said, "They were pushing him around calling him a mutant. I told them to stop but they wouldn't so I used my powers and burned them."

"You mustn't do that Tara," Tate chided, "you could have seriously hurt them."

"But they were picking on Matthew." Tara argued.

"I know Tara, listen you must promise me that you will never use your powers again." Tate replied seriously.

"But you use your powers all the time." Tara replied.

"That's because I use them to help people." Tate answered, "And to defend my family from very bad men."

"So that's what I did." Tara contradicted.

"It's different Tara, the people I use my powers on won't to hurt us, those boys maybe nasty and unfair but in the end they don't compare." Tate explained, "You have to promise me that you won't use your powers to hurt people no matter how bad it seems."

"Okay Mum." Tara replied, "I promise."

"Hmm," Tate sighed as she hugged Tara, "I missed you and your brother I'm never going to leave you again."

"One thing Mum," Tara asked, "I don't like you with green hair."

"Neither do I, trust me it will wash out." Tate assured her now try and get some sleep.

"The green hair makes you look like the mean bitch from the market yesterday." Tara told her.

"Get some sleep we'll talk at breakfast." Tate ordered as she closed the door. Behind her the room lit up, normally Tate would have told Tara to go to sleep but tonight she didn't feel like it. Her fatigue had melted away to a mixture of anger and fear in about equal amounts. Heading downstairs Tate found Daniel filling in the crossword who didn't look up as she arrived.

"Did you know Viper was in town?" Tate said angrily, the loudness of her voice causing Rosy to wake up from her sleep and paw at the cage door to greet her mistress.

"What?" Daniel asked.

"Tara saw a mean woman with green hair in the market yesterday." Tate told him, "Now did you know?"

"I didn't trust me I hate her as much as you do. If I knew that mother was back I would string her up from the front porch." Daniel answered angrily, "You forget that you not the only one that they tortured, we were both in the Ubermensch programme."

"I'm sorry David, I know that," Tate replied, "I just don't want HYDRA to take Tara back I won't let them turn her into a weapon like they did to me. It's bad enough that they started the programme back up after SHIELD destroyed it, I thought maybe we had stopped it when we took Tara from them but I guess when you cut one head off."

"Another grows in its place." Daniel finished, "I remember the training even after SHIELD kidnapped me and removed the programming. Whatever you decide to do Nelson and I will have your back."

"The thing is I may have to do what Fury wanted to do to Tara in the first place." Tate said stoically holding back the tears, "I may have to kill my daughter."

* * *

><p>The characters of Tate WilliamsChemistro IV, Daniel Ward/Strongarm, Tara Williams, Matthew Williams and Nelson/Caracel are my own origonal characters and are not owned by Marvel Comics


	2. Robbing the Cradle

**Chilean Andes - 4 years before the Siege of Asgard**

Snow fell down on the slopes of the mountains as the two HYDRA guards patrolled the top of a dam, the structure keeping the fast flowing river under control and generating power for the secret lab hidden in the frozen depths of the lake itself. Tate breathed slowly, the white hooded cloak making her almost invisible in the snow as she looked through the zoom-finder of the crossbow. As soon as the guards were separated they would be easy prey, the acid tipped bolts would remove all traces of any fallen enemies. One of the guards sat down on the edge of the dam while the other moved off to the left, Tate smiled these idiots were making it almost too easy for her. The first bolt hit the patrolling HYDRA goon and in seconds the acid laced tip had dissolved him and almost all his armor leaving only a few sizzling armoured plates at the top of the dam. Reloading silently and swiftly Tate fired a regular bolt at the second HYDRA agent the force of the strike propelling him off the edge and into the plunge pool at the base of the dam.

"Top's clear Strongarm," Tate told the lump of snow next to her. A man in granite grey armor with four large arms emerged and got to his feet, "Go I'll cover you." she added. Strongarm sprinted to the top of the dam and crouched down by a hidden panel as Tate covered his progress with the crossbow.

"Okay move." Strongarm ordered pulling out a pair of pistols, "I'll cover the hatch and keep the curious from picking you off." Tate got to her feet and collapsed the Crossbow, her grey thermal bodysuit topped with thick armor plating, her blonder hair cropped. Soon she was at the top of the dam with Strongarm who was still covering the hatch.

"Stage One complete, SHIELD is still twenty minutes away from deployment." Tate told Strongarm, "As long as our third arrives soon we won't have any problem."

"Who is our third?" Strongarm asked as the hatch opened and a HYDRA agent put his head above the parapet before putting his hands above his head.

"Get down and be quiet." Tate told the HYDRA agent who nodded and climbed down into the base. Dropping in behind him Strongarm led the way as Tate pulled out a long combat knife. The inside of the dam control station looked like a massacre, with dead HYDRA agents strung all over the place, the only living people besides the HYDRA agent and Strongarm was a man wearing red armed with a katana and pistols.

"Your late." the man told them, "Do you know how bored I was, I spent five hours playing Pac-Man."

"Deadpool, if we knew you were arriving early we would have just come straight in." Strongarm said in disgust. "It looks like you missed one of the HYDRA agents."

"Oh don't worry about him, he's just my sidekick. Say hello Bob." Deadpool told the HYDRA agent.

"Hello." Bob said timidly, "We located the chamber your looking for on the surveillance, it looks like there's only limited security in the area although the reports of Viper and Strucker have been confirmed, they are in the base."

"Good, okay everybody in the elevator." Tate ordered as she walked over to the lift, the doors pinged open and the four squeezed inside. The lift began to descend an awkward silence filled the shaft, at least for a few seconds before Deadpool asked, "You guys want to see a film after this? I'll take the silence as a no, I really wanted to see that new James Bond film." Tate looked at him the scant cocktail dress covering very little.

"Oh Mr Deadpool, you are so good-looking." she purred.

"Bob my Martini, make it shaken not stirred." Deadpool ordered, "Now let's find somewhere more private away from the muscle." he proposed stroking Tate's breasts.

"What the hell are you doing?" Tate asked, Deadpool shook his head only to find himself caressing one of Strongarm's biceps.

"Sorry about that, can't help it really." Deadpool apologized as the door's pinged, "Let me make it up to you." he added as the door opened and a hail of bullets took down the nearest enemy HYDRA agents. Storming out of the lift the group mowed down the remainder of the enemies until the security station looked like the entrance to the lift earlier.

"We don't have much time, SHIELD is getting ready to expose the base." Tate explained, "Deadpool, the Strucker Vault is on the third sub-level, there is around a billion in gold bullion inside. Help yourself, just remember, if anyone asks we were not here."

"Got it." Deadpool answered, "come Bob let's go get us some plunder Argh."

"Great, just great." Bob moaned as Deadpool led they way out through one of the big loading doors, "I hate having to be a sidekick."

"Let's go," Tate told Strongarm, "base schematics show that this section is where they are processing the embryos. We can't let HYDRA keep them and I won't let SHIELD abuse them like they abused us"

"So the plan is to pull the plug on the nutrient supply." Strongarm asked as he rolled back a big door.

"No I'm going to poison the nutrient supply, simply pulling the plug would take too long. I've got a vial full of Ricin variant B on my belt." she informed him picking up a discarded HAMMER Pulse Rifle. Heading down the corridor to the birthing chamber, the alarms sounded and a squad of HYDRA agents emerged.

"All HYDRA Agents report to battle positions, SHIELD Helicarrier detected in vicinity of dam, all exterior patrols are to stand buy for combat." Strucker announced over the bases PA system. As his voice died down a group of agents rounded the corner and stared at the two intruders. In seconds they were dead and Tate and Strongarm had reached the end of the corridor with one path heading towards the armoury and another leading to the bases escape pods.

"Okay that look's like the seal," Strongarm announced pressing the arms of the HYDRA symbol marked in black on the back wall. The arms clicked and the symbol swung open revealing a hidden chamber filled with orange tubes containing floating human embryos. "Defiantly the right place." Strongarm announced, "I don't think that two vials of poison are going to be enough to stop the programme Chemistro."

"I agree, we may have to go for plan B." Tate said removing a throw away section of fabric wrapped around her midriff revealing bare skin covered in an array of flattened detonators. "If you take the top row, I'll get the bottom ones." she offered handing Strongarm a set of detonators. "Let's make this quick I'm almost sure that Deadpool and his Sidekick have triggered the alarm by know."

"Two Minutes should do for the timers." Strongarm announced as Tate slid down the ladder to the bottom of the chamber.

"Then get placing." Tate ordered as she placed the first bomb on one of the tanks. It felt evil what she was doing, but she knew that no matter what the embryos couldn't be allowed to grow up. She kept placing the bombs despite the twisting feeling in her guts until she reached a vat marked 21, she stopped, inside there was a tiny embryo fed by a nutrient tube, Tate knew that twenty years ago she had been in the same position. Behind her the sound of a gun cocking could be heard and Tate turned to see a little girl clad in HYDRA armor and aged around six or five years aiming at her head.

"Good work Specimen 099." a woman said from the gantry, Tate looked up to see a woman almost identical to the Black Widow pointing a weapon at Strongarm, the only difference was that she wore a HYDRA green jumpsuit and had streaks of green in her hair. "Well if isn't number 017 and 021, isn't his a fun reunion."

"Redback," Tate growled, "still hiding behind others." she added, "I would expect as much from a bad Black Widow Imposter."

"Kill her 99." Redback ordered the girl. Tate quickly disarmed her potential executioner before she could shoot and threw the gun across the floor. The girl retaliated by firing a brightly coloured stream of light at her from the palms of her hands. Tate blindly lashed out falling before opening her eyes to see the darkened roof of her bedroom.

* * *

><p><strong>Africa First Compound, Maun, Botswana - 1708/11**

"Fucking Nightmares." she swore pulling a tank top and a pair of cargo pants on. The sky was still dark outside and Tate had the horrible feeling that she had slept the entire day, still despite the bad dreams she felt refreshed if a little hungry, something that could easily be remedied by a trip to the kitchen. Emerging from her room, David gently snoring behind her she crept out onto the landing, Tara's light was still on and Tate felt drawn to the room. Walking over she opened the door and saw Tara pretend to sleep, the light she had created trapped in the glass by the side of her bed. There was something else there as well on the balcony, a woman the end of her cigarette glowing in the darkness. Tate walked past Tara and slid open the door to come face to face with Viper, the HYDRA leader reclining against the wall of the building.

"Get off my property." Tate threatened.

"Or what you didn't bring any weapons, nothing even to cut yourself with. Your not stupid Odette." Viper told her. "I have an offer for you."

"Not interested," Tate told her, "Now leave."

"Here me out, HYDRA is under attack Leviathan is out of control, threatening to destroy us." Viper said.

"Forgive me if I don't care." Tate replied, "Now leave or I call security up here."

"No you won't. You have never been able to ask for help, not for the important things. Odette you are the last of the favourites left. Strucker's twins are dead; Gorgon's lieutenant died with him and Kraken had to kill his best teachers. The Upermensch project only has eight survivors left after you and 017s raid on the base in Chile."

"Really, looks like attrition did the things that SHIELD and the Avengers could never do." Tate replied, "I'm sure that you have something else up your sleeve now go." Behind her Tara's light came back on and the faint rustle of pages could be heard.

"Ah little 099 I see you didn't kill her in the end." Viper announced, "And you have your own child, we know he has your powers, he would be welcome in HYDRA's armies."

"And you're about one word away from being thrown off this balcony. I've told you I'm not interested in any offer you have to me." Tate said angrily.

"But what does your family want; 017 is a lost cause but your children could be tempted, we can give them a life of luxury as rulers of a new world." Viper told Tate, "Imagine Tara and Matthew could be the new Queen and King of a world that fears and adores them."

"I said no." Tate said loudly. Viper looked surprised and Tate heard Tara get out of bed and poke her head out of the door.

"Mum what's going on?" she asked.

"Nothing go back to bed honey." Tate ordered

"Who's that woman?" Tara asked.

"Just a common thief, she came looking to take some medicine for her family. We're going to head downstairs and send her on her way." Tate lied.

"Are you going to help her?" Tara asked.

"Yes now go to bed." Tate told her, "You come with me." she ordered Viper heading along the balcony to her bedroom. "Daniel." she said hammering at the door. Daniel wandered up looking bleary eyed and slid the door open. When he saw Viper he lunged for her, the HYDRA agent just escaping his grasp.

"What's she doing here?" he asked angrily.

"Nothing good." Tate replied slipping inside and picking up the double-barrelled shotgun hidden beside the cabinet. "Now get out before I shoot you." she ordered pointing the weapon at Viper.

"Just remember that HYDRA tried to extend an Olive Branch and that you burnt it down. Whatever happens from now on is on you head." Viper warned Tate, "And remember that I love you my daughter." she added dropping off the balcony.

"Why can't they leave us alone?" Tate said tracking Viper with the shotgun as she crawled up the fence and out of the compound.

"Did Tara see Viper?" Daniel asked.

"Yes but she thinks she's a common thief looking to steal medicine." Tate answered, "I'm going downstairs to tell the guards to shoot on site next time she turns up and to warn them to expect company in the future."

"You think HYDRA will choose force over subterfuge?" Daniel asked, "Brute strength has never been their MO."

"You heard her, she said whatever happens is on my own head." Tate announced as Daniel put an arm around her, his warming touch rubbing her cold skin.

"Our heads." he told her and he looked out across the savannah as in the distance the calls of jackals could be heard fighting over a carcass. Somewhere even further shots sounded and flashes of light could be seen Daniel knew Tate wasn't a violent person but there wasn't a thing she wouldn't do to keep Tara and Mathew safe. He just hoped when the time came that he would be able to make the same sacrifices.


	3. Sitting in the Devil's Right Hand

Tate sat in her office finishing an order for a new fleet of transport trucks to move the various medical and nutritional supplies that Africa First manufactured. Tara and Matthew were at school, and despite Viper's threat against them Tate have eventually come to the conclusion that the best way to protect them was to carry on as normal, the children would certainly start worrying if the regular routine changed. Just to be safe however, Tate had ordered Nelson and another guard Mabuto to stay with in spitting distance of the school. Drinking the last dregs of her home made coffee Tate looked out the window at the sun hovering low over the grassland. It was a refreshing change to the cramped and underground feeling she had experienced in the Task Force HAMMER base, despite that she missed her former team mates and hoped that they had a break in the case. The loud buzz of the desktop phone shook her out of her day dream and she picked it up.

"Good Morning Africa First, Odette speaking how can I help you?" she announced. There was an answer and she answered, "I'm fine Victoria, but I thought that I wasn't to have contact with you." There was another reply to her question, "What James did what? No I heard you but it doesn't seem possible. And did anyone get out. No okay I understand, what he's coming here?" There was more chatter over the phone, "I see he's clearing house, okay thanks for the heads up. Yes I think I can deal with him, okay yes talk to you soon." Tate put down the phone and typed a website address into the laptop on her desk before sifting through the links till she found the one she was looking for. A familiar deck of tarot cards appeared and Tate saw that the ones representing the majority of the team were blacked out with red cross through their faces. Only the Hierophant, Temperance and Empress were still standing, Tate clicked on the later to see Victoria clad in a long white robe holding a sceptre emblazoned with the HAMMER logo.

Tate sighed and got up from her seat just as the phone rang again, picking it up she stated the first line she had told Victoria, "Good Morning Africa First, Odette speaking how can I help you". A reply came followed by desperate sobbing, "Yes do you have identification, No okay I'll head out personally. Yes ETA is around fifteen minutes. Just hold on to I reach you." Tate put down the phone before scribbling, "Out at homestead treating snake bite, back soon. Keep an eye on kids. Tate." before heading down to the kitchen and removing a multi holed container and a range of vials marked with names such as, Mamba - Black, Adder - Puff and Boomslang from the fridge. After the Anti Venom vials were loaded Tate inserted a coolant core and closed the lid before slinging it over her shoulder and heading for the garage. Opening the door she headed out on one of the dirt bikes, five minutes later she was thundering down one of the dirt safari tracks when her ear-piece buzzed.

"What is it Daniel?" she asked

"Just got your message" Daniel replied, "On another topic who got you onto Tarot?"

"What, oh that just turn it off." Tate told him, "This should be a quick job, some tourist guide got bitten by a snake, I'm just running some Anti Venom out to them."

"Surely they should have Anti-Venom with them?" Daniel asked, "Sounds strange to me, just make sure that it's not a trap."

"I thought about that, I've got my sprayers and a handgun, I should be fine even if it's HYDRA ambush." Tate replied.

"Tate something just happened with the Tarot website, a message came up saying that the Temperance is the target." Daniel informed, "What does that mean? Hello Tate come in."

Tate looked over her shoulder, it looked like a massive dust-storm was following her down the road. Gunning the engine Tate sped up only to see the storm increase in speed as well and know she could see a face looming out of the cloud. Soon the dust cloud was right on top of her and all she could hear was a strange whistling sound as a red mist closed around her. Tate fired wildly into the cloud with her wrist sprayers a lance of water cutting through the storm's face. Reaching out with a massive fist the giant grabbed the bike and flipped it sending Tate and her precious cargo flying to the floor. Coughing Tate got to her feet as the Sandman formed a massive mace like fist and got ready to slam it down on her head. Tate fired her sprayers again using the a jet of water to cut the hand in two.

"Listen," she yelled, "I haven't got time to deal with you, if I don't get this to the safari party then a man will die." The sandstorm stopped blowing and formed into a man with craggy features clad in a green shirt and slacks.

"Does he have family?" he asked.

"Almost certainty." Tate replied, "Once I've given him the Anti-Venom then we can start round two." Sandman whistled and whirled as the wind blew past his body, clouds of sand escaping his body. "I'll only agree if I can come with you, I don't want to be tricked." he growled.

"Sounds fair." Tate said racking her brains for a way to trick Sandman into leaving her alone. It probably wouldn't matter if her was here it wasn't a far stretch to believe one or more of the other assassins would be nearby as well. "We just have to make sure none of your friends ambush me before I can save the man."

"Gauntlet and Bushwhacker were deployed by the boss. There flying in by private jet it might take them a while to land." Sandman told her. "Now get moving I need to bring the boss your head." he added as Tate picked up the Dirtbike and brushed off the sand from the saddle before driving off a massive sand storm following in her wake.

A few minutes later Tate arrived by an abandoned land-rover with the markings of a local safari network. Almost immediately Tate felt a chill go down her back, surely the safari group would stay by the car and not wander into the bush by themselves. Picking up her mobile phone, and emptying the sand that had infiltrated the device she called the number that had rang for help in the first place. Her call was answered by a buzzing sound the came from the Land-Rover, Tate wandered over and saw the mobile clutched by a severed hand left in the passenger foot well.

"That's not good." she said as the Sandman blew overhead, "I wonder if they left anything else in the car" she asked popping the boot before walking round the back of the car. Inside among the other supplies was a fully furnished kit of spider and snake anti-venoms, David's words suddenly sounded in her mind, "What if it's a trap?" Tate looked up to see the Sandman circling the area, she wondered if he was involved but something doubted it.

"Hey Sandman can you see anything." Tate asked as she went to the driver side back seat. Bending in she saw a severed head and cringed, somebody had defiantly had a killing frenzy. Something grainy grabbed her and pulled her back and she saw the Sandman holding her back.

"What the hell are you doing we had a deal?" Tate yelled as he pulled her back to where the dirt bike was parked, seconds later the car exploded violently."

"No point in letting somebody else kill you before me." the Sandman explained.

"That makes me feel more comfortable." Tate said sarcastically, "Why the hell are you trying to kill me what did I ever do to you?"

"Do you have children?" the Sandman asked.

"Yes, Tara and Matthew." Tate said cautiously, "Please don't go after them I have enough problems with HYDRA and the local Warlord."

"What would you do if they were in danger?" the Sandman asked.

"Anything I had to keep them safe." Tate answered.

"Now you know why I have to kill you." Sandman answered, "Now where's this dying man you came out to save, or was that a lie to buy you time."

"I don't know," Tate told him, "I was told he would be here but as you can see there's nobody in the area." Behind her there was a click of a dozen rifles and Tate winced, "Maybe I was wrong."

"021 turn round and let me see you." a voice commanded. Tate did what she was ordered to and saw the familiar armoured figure of Commander Kraken and seven HYDRA agents. "Come with us," Kraken ordered, "the Baron wants to talk to you."

"Get away from her." the Sandman said his form whistling, "She's mine to kill." Kraken simply gave a hand movement and his men fired at the Sandman, energy dancing across his body causing the sand to harden into glass and the crumble. "Come 021, " Kraken ordered, "Or I order my men to massacre the men we took hostage." Tate glared at him before walking alongside him acutely aware that she was alone and outgunned, if she was right Strucker and Viper would be here and while she would put up a good fight, she would be outgunned if all three of the HYDRA agents fought her together, she would have preferred to be alone with the Sandman then walk into the Baron's grasp. Half a mile later and Tate came across a camouflaged HYDRA transport ship, the usual bright green armor covered with a camouflage tarpaulin, a few HYDRA agents standing guard over the figure of Baron Strucker.

"My Baron I have brought you 021 as requested." Kraken informed him.

"Good release the prisoners." the Baron ordered.

"Going soft Strucker, you wouldn't have done that a few years ago." Tate replied.

"Ms. Williams, Africa's new saviour, using the gifts we gave you to better mankind." Strucker stated, "You must be so proud."

"I feel a certain amount of happiness. Still I want to know why I've suddenly got your attention it's not like I've been hiding." Tate replied.

"HYDRA has powerful enemies; HAMMER and Leviathan are causing unseen amounts of damage to our network." Strucker told her, "Add in pests like you and we would soon disappear."

"Viper told me that last night." Tate told him, "And if your offering me the same deal then the answer is the same. It's a no you can't have my children."

"Your children are no use to HYDRA." Strucker remarked, "Despite what Viper has told you, there training is incomplete, we wouldn't be able to turn them into the weapons we desire them to be. That said they are an excellent bargaining chip, as we speak Herr Crossbones and some of the local talent are picking them up from school and taking them back to your compound."

"You basted Crossbones' can't be trusted with children, he'll kill them." Tate yelled as Kraken and three HYDRA agents marched out an African guide and three tourists past the Baron.

"Release them." Strucker ordered, the agents let the hostages go as a second group of HYDRA drones brought out four snarling German Shepherds. "Just some added incentive." Strucker told Tate, "Give me an answer that doesn't please me and my men release the dogs."

"What's your proposal then?" Tate asked as the former hostages escaped into the bush.

"HYDRA is being broken, certain members of the leadership are showing their age, what HYDRA needs is powerful allies that we can eventually control. HAMMER is our target with that under the fist of HYDRA we will be unstoppable." Strucker stated, "Viper is against that, frankly I think she is ready for replacing. I have plenty of candidates but they are all have their own ambitions."

"So why come to me my business is as far from HYDRAs goals as possible." Tate announced.

"But Ms. Williams you along with my dead Andrea and Andreas were always my favourite child. You have both your mothers and my DNA in your blood stream, my heritage is yours my child. I need my heir close to me, Viper's position is yours if you want it, or if you don't want Crossbones to start killing his hostages." Strucker offered, one of the HYDRA agents walked up and whispered something and Strucker smiled, "Ah Mr. Rumlow has finally got the video line up and running." Strucker announced producing a holographic projector and placing it on the floor. A blue toned image appeared of Crossbones' stroking Tara's hair.

"What's it to be Ms. Williams, your freedom or your family?" Strucker growled. Tate looked him in the eyes blowing a strand of green hair out of her face. "You give your word that the children, David and Nelson won't be harmed and that HYDRA will forget that they ever exist."

"If it acquires me a new HYDRA queen, I'm willing to let them do anything they want. All you have to do is swear your loyalty to HYDRA" Strucker announced as Tate watched Crossbones move on to Matthew and ruffle his hair, almost as if he was a kind uncle rather then a bloodthirsty mercenary. Closing her eyes Tate remembered something the Sandman had told her that he'd do anything for his children. Opening them she stared into Strucker's hellish eyes and uttered the two words she hated the most, "Hail HYDRA."


	4. Enemies at the Gates

Tate stopped outside her mansion and frowned, Strucker had instructed her to kill Viper, but first she would stop by the house and make sure her family was okay. What she found waiting outside her house was three beat-up Opal Blitz trucks with the markings of General Marani. Tate felt the anger as she watched a soldier drive a fork-lift truck carrying a box full of water purifiers and solar cells up to one of the trucks. Dismounting from the dirt bike she stormed up to the trucks, the soldiers paying her no attention, obviously in the belief that the new 'Madame Hydra' wouldn't interfere with there loading. Tate soon showed them how wrong they were as she fired a blast of flame at one of the workers, the man dropping to the floor and rolling to extinguish the flame as his attacker policed the shotgun he had been carrying. In a few blasts the trucks were leaking petrol and the few remaining soldiers high-tailed it past the guard-house and back to the mansion.

Persuing them Tate came across the body of one of her guards the man's body covered with millions of little cuts. In his place a HYDRA agent stood, a deadly sentinel blocking the way into her property.

"Hail HYDRA." he called as she passed, Tate turned and gave him a withering look.

"Hail HYDRA." she growled before grabbing his chest and pulling him out of the guard-house. "Now as the new Madam Hydra I want you to tell me whose up in my house stealing my supplies and killing my employees."

"Crossbones hired some local mercenaries to help keep your men in line. They were given instructions to guard the property and the children until you gave Baron Strucker what he wants." the HYDRA guard told her. Tate looked surprised she never had known HYDRA agents to be so cooperative when they were questioned. Then again she thought he could just be trying to make a good impression to his new boss. Tate smacked his head against the guard-house and dropped the man back through the window before heading on to the mansion. She had just about reached the door when the wooden shutters over the windows were blown off and the remaining foot-soldiers began firing their AK47s and RPDs at her position. Tate ducked inside and blasted the remaining cartridges from the shotgun through the wall before kicking the door down to find all but one of her enemies dead.

"Well Ms. Williams welcome home." the man said clad in light-weight matte black armor his eyes glinting red. "General Marani hoped you would try something stupid."

"Cornel Zan." Tate replied, "Get out of my house and tell your commander that nothing in this building belongs to him."

"What about his son?" Zan asked, "He's as much his as he is yours, a boy needs his father or he could become unstable." Zan's last words caused the few intact chairs in the room to crumple into tiny wooden chips, "Oh and I'm calling myself Fathom now, HYDRA supplied me with replacement armor for the set you destroyed that enhances my powers. Now die bitch?" Tate screamed in pain as the pressure increase caused by Zan's armor began to build. Desperately she sprayed a jet of acid the liquid projectile splashing on Fathom's armor.

"Nice try but this armor has protection against any chemical you can create." Fathom told her as Tate fired again this time her flamethrowers engulfed the armor but again no visible damage could be seen. The pressure increased around her arms and her wrist sprayers crumpled as a spray of acidic blood was released the deadly chemical eating a hole in the floor.

"Any last words?" Zan asked as he pulled out a slim pistol and pointed it at Tate's head.

"How's the EMP shielding on your new clothes?" Tate replied spitting a dark gret ball of saliva onto Zan's armor, "Because I'm Radioactive" she added as the suit sparked and hissed. Getting to her feet Tate took Zan's pistol away and watched as her blood melted the barrel. "No please," Zan cried as Tate ripped off the elbow plate and dangled her bleeding arm over him. Tate smiled and took out her knife exposing Zan's vein his blood flowing over her restraining arm. A single drop entered his blood stream and she let him go.

"What was that?" Zan asked manically rubbing where Tate had made the cut.

"Tranquilizers should keep you down for a few minutes." Tate told, "Just so you won't cause a problem I'll keep you from moving." she added slashing her wrists before flicking her blood over Zan's hands and feet, the blood turning to an orange gel hardening to keep him from moving.

"Looks like I'll have to use the old stuff." Tate said sadly removing the wrist sprayers and tossing them on the floor before heading towards the downstairs study. Passing through the kitchen she found another pair of dead guards as well as her dog Rosie slumped on the floor, their bodies bleeding from bites to the neck, Tate closed the eyes of one of the men before removing one of the men's handguns. Arriving at the study door she heard at least two men talking inside.

"Sir what you are looking for isn't in here." the first man told his superior.

"Idiot," the man said in a French accent, "Viper told us to take anything we wanted, the charity's records must be in here my employer needs them." Tate silently opened the door to see one a HYDRA soldier and the orange and purple clad form of Batroc the Leaper.

"Why does the Black Panther want the records for Africa First anyway?" the agent asked.

"Yes why?" Tate asked kicking open the door, "You soldier tie yourself to that chair." she ordered the HYDRA agent, "Obey me or face the wrath of Madame Hydra." the agent gulped and quickly bound his hands with the pair of handcuffs he was carrying and sat on the chair. "Now Batroc what does Shuri want with my charity records?" Tate asked circling the study as Batroc did the same.

"She ordered me to get ze records of all convoy routes, she believes that you have been supplying arms and ammunitions to Wakandan rebels as well as the Nigandan Army." Batroc told her reaching for one of his whip canes.

"Africa First doesn't supply weapons to anyone tell Shuri that she's mistaken." Tate replied angrily levelling the hand-gun at Batroc. "She has no evidence for any transaction so she hired you to find it."

"No evidence save trucks marked with the Africa First logo filled with RPG shells and ammo cases." Batroc answered.

"What," Tate hissed, "your lying."

"No my Cherie." Batroc replied sliding an envelope to her, "This is all the proof you need." Tate opened the envelope and felt her heart sink at what she saw, Shuri had the right to be concerned the images were very convincing.

"Files are in the safe behind the picture of the impala." Tate told him, "Give me a second and you can take the files back to your employer with my blessing." she told Batroc as he removed the picture revealing a wall mounted safe. Tate drew her knife and slashed her arm causing her burning blood to drip before lying it across the lock. The safe swung open and she removed the files with her good arm before delivering a swift elbow to Batroc's face before following it up by slamming his face into the safe door.

"Sorry old habits." Tate apologized to the unconscious Batroc before sliding the folder full of files under his arm. Next she removed her old crossbow and a quiver of acid tipped bolts as well as a pair of under-arm knives and a bandolier filled with a variety of colourful grenades. Reaching in for her last piece of equipment Tate felt a pair of fangs sink into her leg, extracting the flachette gun and holster she fired two quick darts into the head of the Green Mamba sinking it's fangs into her leg.

"Are you okay Madam Hydra?" the bound HYDRA agent asked.

"Fine I'm brimming full of Mamba Anti-Venom." Tate told him, "Now tell me where are my children?"

"Upstairs in the little-girls bedroom with Crossbones and Viper." the agent told her, "She then gave the mercenaries and Marani's men permission to strip this place of anything they needed."

"Viper is here." Tate said, "Strucker didn't mention that?"

"She arrived with a unit of troops saying she had orders from Commander Kraken to reinforce this position." the HYDRA soldier answered. "Can I get off the chair now?" he asked as Tate left the study, "Please these handcuffs really itch." he moaned. Tate stormed up the stairs so angry that she didn't notice the figure crouched at the top, with a whoop and a scream it leapt from the first floor barrelling into her and knocking her down to the ground floor. The giggling figure got to it's feet and pinned her to the floor, his drool running down her face. Tate recognized this man as the Hyena, an Angolan War Criminal responsible for crimes such as the massacre of entire villages as well as being a frequent practitioner of cannibalism that would even make McGangran cringe. The man was insane which made him twice as dangerous as he slashed through her shirt with metal claws tapped over his hand.

"Not yet Hyena." a voice tainted with a South African accent told the lunatic, "First we need to make Ms. Williams impotent."

"Razorwire is that you?" Tate said mockingly, "Nice to see you have grown as a person, working with people like Zan and Hyena must really grind on your morals of a white only Africa."

"It does but any chance to deal with you Williams. If it weren't for you I would not have lost my hands." Razorwire growled.

"Well technically the crocodile took you hands." Tate said jokingly as she heard something heavy and metallic hit the floor by Razorwire's feet. As usual he was wearing the Crocodile Dundee get-up although Dundee never had two meter strands of barbed wire protruding from his hands.

"Venomm is the serum ready?" Razorwire asked, "I don't know how long Hyena will hold off on the eating. And while the filth burning his mouth on Williams' blood is appealing we all know what she's capable of with her powers."

"Give me twenty seconds to load the dart." the pale skinned Venomm told Razorwire his corpse like face leering at her as a pair of his spitting cobras slid down the stairs.

"Hey Hyena how about a little taste before the main course?" Tate said shoving her arm into Hyena's mouth his sharpened canines cutting the skin. Hyena howled in pain as the knockout gas filled his mouth. Tate flipped to her feet as a dart embedded in her neck before removing the flachette side-arm.

"Let's see how powerful you are without your powers." Razorwire asked slinging his chains around her arms the barbs digging into her skin. "Well would you look at that Venomm no more acid blood, looks like that stuff actually works." he mused as one of the two cobras raised itself ready to spit. Ducking Tate watched as the deadly spit impacted with Razor Wire's neck causing him to scream, more in alarm then any pain, giving Tate just what she wanted, pulling the chains forward the razor sharp edged cut threw the quiver and the crossbow tips, the acidic projectiles snapping the chains as the bolts fell onto the floor. One of the cobras rose up to make another tip but Tate twisted and shot it with her sidearm before turning on the seconds slashing at it with the 50cm of chain wrapped around her wrists.

"Bitch I'll bloody kill you." Razorwire yelled swinging the remnants of the chain. Tate dodged and grabbed one of the bolts and stabbed Venomm in the face as he came rushing towards her with a knife. To his credit Venomm didn't scream but stuck the knife into her chest, the blade missing her vital organs be millimetres before receiving a roundhouse to the face. Almost instantly Tate felt queasy as Venomm made a grab for her feet flooring her the area of skin around the stab wound blistering.

"Gabon Viper venom Williams." Venomm told her, "A lethal Hemotoxin brew designed to take out your blood and then kill you."

"She won't have to wait that long." Razorwire stated as he towered over Tate his razor edged chains scratching her face as Hyena shook himself and stalked towards them. He took a quick sniff and growled angrily before turning tail and running out the open front door as quickly as possible.

"What's wrong with him?" Venomm asked

"No idea." Tate replied slamming her foot into his face before quickly removing the knife from her chest and stabbing it into Razor Wire's groin. Groaning in pain he doubled over as Tate staggered to her feet before swinging the metal chain around her wrist knocking him out. Moving slowly Tate struggled into the kitchen and fiddled around in the large freezer and found a vial marked Viper, Gabon. She was glad she had the foresight to include non native venomous snakes on the list of anti-venoms she kept. Quickly injecting the syringe into her arm Tate collapsed breathing heavily, she was unsure how long she would have to wait before the venom was out of her system but she knew she didn't have time.

Heading upstairs she saw a HYDRA sentry duck into Tara's room and lock the door. Wincing in pain Tate reached the door only to hear gun-fire in the bedroom and the sound of several bodies hitting the floor.

"Tara I'm coming." she yelled ramming the door to no avail. She tried a second time the blow causing the door to rattle. The third impact rocked the door of it's hinged and caused Tate to fall to the floor tripping over a dead HYDRA agent. Standing in the centre of the destroyed room was James Rhodes clad in his War Machine Armor. Part of Tate was relieved but the other side remembered what Victoria had told her this morning.

"James," she said cautiously fitting a bolt into her Crossbow.

"Tate," he answered in the same tone she had just used.

Out in one of the Acacia's in the mansions garden Gauntlet sat watching the build up to the fight. Levelling his Sniper Rifle he grimaced he couldn't have chosen a better position, he was in the position to take out two HAMMER agents with a single bullet.

* * *

><p>The charactes of Hyena, Razor Wire and Cornal ZanFathom are my own creations and are not owned by Marvel Comics


	5. The Heirophrat and the Temprance

"Your going to pay for what you did." War Machine said menacingly as the pair of combatants completed a second circuit of the room.

"Trust me I already am." Tate replied, "I never wanted to do this but it looked like I had no choice."

"You always have a choice." James answered, "It may not be a good one but you never do what you did."

"You don't understand I would do anything for them. You have plenty of black marks against you so don't treat me like the big bad." Tate hissed

"I'm paying for my sins while you wallow in the mud with HYDRA." James yelled, his voice scaring the birds from the garden below the balcony behind him.

"They were going to take my children until I agreed, now the only things between their safety are Crossbones, Viper and you." Tate told him loosing a bolt the projectile slamming into the armor plating. James grunted more from the force of the impact then the pain and fired back, his Repulsors hitting Tate and sending her through the wall back into the corridor. He groaned ripping off the plate where the bolt hit, metal fragments flaking off as the contact corrosive ate through the metal. Walking towards the hall James saw Tate wheezing as she bled out on the floor.

"I don't want to do this." he told her as he towered above her bleeding form.

"Is that what you told the others." Tate wheezed, "Right before you killed them."

"I'm a soldier, dealing death to scumbags is what I do." James clarified, "You understand that as well as anyone, your no angel."

"You're right." Tate sighed before getting to her feet, "But it doesn't make it right." she growled spinning smashing James's face plate with one of the severed links used by Razorwire, the barbed chain ripping through the titanium alloy revealing dark flesh underneath. Tate swung again but this time James was ready and caught the chain disarming his attacker and throwing her further down the hallway. Charging towards her he felt the sting of another crossbow bolt embed in his armor, this time in the left hand Repulsor. Tate managed to string a second bolt before he reached her picking the struggling woman up by the neck and beginning to crush her windpipe.

"I'm sorry but I don't understand why you did It." he told her as he continued to add pressure on her throat.

"Is that what Elizabeth said?" Tate asked, "or Nijo or Toxin when you murdered them."

"I didn't touch them, you killed them." James said angrily squeezing harder.

"I…left…Osborne…sent me…away" Tate wheezed as she began to black out. The cold metal fingers suddenly released and she dropped to the floor. "You sick bitch, I saved Victoria, I saved the city and you have the gall to frame me for their deaths." James roared smashing his armoured foot into her gut with the sickening crunch of Tate's rib cage crushing under the weight.

"Get off." Tate replied flipping the switch on the detonator clenched in her palm, the bolt embedded in the War Machine Repulsor flashed before detonating, the complex machinery vaporizing into a rain of super-heated shrapnel. From James cry of pain it was clear he took the worst of the explosion but Tate feel her cheek burn as metal splinters imbedded in her face. "Victoria told me you killed them all and that you were here to finish the job."

"I only woke up twenty four hours ago." James grunted in pain. "You killed them and ran off to Africa with HYDRA."

"I was sent back here by Osborne because I took the blame for you leaving the base with out proper authorization." Tate answered, "I can't believe it Victoria set us up."

"I knew we couldn't trust HAMMER I even told Natasha that." James grunted.

"You knew the secret?" Tate asked, "Do you think that somebody leaked that to Nike or Osborne?"

"Who's Nike?" James asked

"Nike is the person who unleashed Bushwhacker, Gauntlet and Janissary on us back in New York. Even worse I had an encounter with the Sandman this morning and he mentioned that there heading this way to finish the job." Tate told James, "Ever since I returned home things have gone from bad to worse. I even rejoined HYDRA just to keep my children safe and now there both gone."

"What about some kind of tracking signal or chemical, from what I know you're resourceful, you would have some way of finding something lost." James asked

"That won't work until my powers reactivate and that might take days." Tate answered, "We don't have days, we barley have hours before Crossbones and Viper leave the area if they haven't already." Something sparkled from beyond the destroyed section of wall causing Tate to peer, as she tried to figure out what it was. James turned to see what she was looking at before screaming, "Get down." as he tackled her down the stairs. Up above the rolling pair a shot rang out and the wooden door into Daniel and Tate's bedroom disintegrated.

"Thanks for the save." Tate moaned as James rolled off her. Behind her the door splintered and Bushwhacker emerged his face twisted into a filthy scowl.

"This is so going to be worth It." he sneered his hand changing into a biological machine gun. "You will pay for what you did to me in New York bitch." he added as he cocked his arm ready to fire. Before he could let off a single shot the grainy dust covered floor beneath all three of them collapsed sending all three of them plummeting into the lab in the basement. As Tate struggled to get to her feet she saw an animated cloud of sand form next to Bushwhacker as he also rose to his feet, the only thing separating the combatants was a long lab table fixed to the ground.

"What the fucking hell have you done Flint?" Bushwhacker asked as he shifted his arm into the flamethrower configuration, the smell of kerosene on his breath.

"He just made the biggest mistake of the day." Tate replied, "You never drop a chemist in her lab when you're trying to kill her. James if you keep them busy I'll activate the security protocols." she ordered ducking under a burst of flame before heading towards the glowing computer suite at the end of the room.

"Flint kill that Iron Man wannabe I have a score to settle with the girl." Bushwhacker ordered running parallel to Tate occasionally firing a burst of flame over the table. James looked at Sandman as he walked menacingly over his hands transforming into a rock hard hammer and anvil. Activating the shoulder mounted Gattling gun James fired and watched a bullets chipped chunks of rock off the walking sand sculpture until eventually Flint collapsed into a sandy pile. Looking over he saw Bushwhacker still chasing Tate who had stopped at a large containment unit and pulled out a large tube filled with a glowing yellow liquid. With a crack the tube glowed until it filled the entire lab with yellow light causing everyone inside to stop fighting for a few seconds. As soon as the room dimmed James saw that Tate had reached the security console and was desperately tapping in passwords and search parameters while Bushwhacker still tried to recover from his state of blindness and the Sandman began to swirl and eddy menacingly.

"Bloody hell somebody changed the security settings while I was away, the whole bloody lab had been compromised." Tate complained, "Okay break the first level of encryption and activate facial recognition software." she murmured to herself.

"Can you hurry up." James spluttered his voice barley audible above the humming sand that had surrounded him abrading sections of armor plating off his suit.

"Give me a few seconds." Tate replied as a laser scanned her face, "and bang." she added as a message popped up claiming that it didn't recognize her face, "or maybe not. Somebody really didn't want me getting back into my computer systems, guess I'm going to have to do this manually."

"Your not doing anything." Bushwhacker told her as he smashed through the computers arranged on the desk behind her, "I'm going to make you pay for what you did to me in New York you little bitch."

"All I need is an explosion near one of the containment vats," Tate said ignoring Bushwhacker, "Excuse me." she told the mutant hunter as his arm configured into a cannon, "can't you see I'm trying to work." she added angrily taking a knife and stabbing herself in the chest before removing the blade and jamming it into Bushwhacker's weaponized arm.

"What the hell?" Bushwhacker yelled, "I'm going to enjoy this." he growled removing the knife. Suddenly his arm returned to normal and he doubled over in pain almost as if he had been kicked in the groin. "What did you do to me bitch?" he moaned reaching for his sidearm.

"My powers were inhibited by a pair of thugs named Razorwire and Venomm, I took a gamble and guessed that the chemical works by being rapidly created by my blood so I used it to take yours away as well." Tate informed him snatching the pistol away before grabbing him by his hair and dragging him towards a vat marked with a radiation symbol. "Right now you have enough ammo rolling around in your chest to start a small civil war." she told him dropping him and moving a few paces away from the vat.

"You can't do this." Bushwhacker said trying to get up. Tate fired the handgun, the bullet slicing into her targets chest causing the stored ammunition inside to detonate splitting the sides of the vat. In seconds a cold computerized voice announced, "Radiation leak detected starting decontamination procedure." triggering the sprinklers and showering the entire room with cold water. The effect was immediate on Sandman his dust like body melting down over War Machine's armor before finally collapsing into a puddle on the floor.

Tate limped over to James whose armor had been filed down revealing his skin in places under the metallic coating. "That was nasty." he commented, "Is this usually how your charity operates?"

"No but I think we may have taken down more super-villains in one day then anyone else." Tate announced, "I'm going to head back upstairs and call the Botswanan Army to take Razorwire and Zan off our hands. I assume that HAMMER sent back-up with you?"

"They did, one T-Wagon and a loading crew, I'll scoop up enough of Sandman and give him to them for processing." James replied, "From what I know there's still a warrant on Venomm so they'll remove him as well." From up above a gun cocking could be heard and both the heros looked up to see Gauntlet armed with a pair of MP5s on the landing above them.

"Looks like all that money will be all mine." he cackled, the yellow dot scope over his right eye rotating as he laughed before settling as he opened fire bullets ricocheting around the room.

"Okay looks like the day's not over." James commented as he flew away from the opening that Sandman had opened.

"No we still have Gauntlet to deal with and then I'm going to kill Viper and Crossbones." Tate announced, "Then it will be over."

"One thing at a time." James replied as a flurry of bullets struck the ankle of the War Machine armor. "It's your time to distract him by the way." he added as the remnants of the armours visor turned red. Tate headed for the hole sprinting past causing Gauntlet to open fire until she reached the cover of the next work bench. Behind her there was the sound of splintering wood as James flew through the ceiling under the area Gauntlet was standing in before aggressively grabbing the inhuman assassin and slamming him into an upright tap, the facet sticking through his chest. Gauntlet enraged kicked out pushing War Machine away before un-holstering a laser pistol on his belt and shooting at the armoured figure as he came again this time snapping Gauntlet's hand. Sneering Gauntlet tried to pull another weapon off his belt but was once again stopped this time with a simple swat of the hand before plucking the cybernetic eye from his skull. Gauntlet let out a scream of pain only to be silenced by several rapid and aggressive blows from his assailant.

"Now say the words" James growled, "Say Kill Me."

"Kill me." Gauntlet sneered, "You'd never follow through your too her…" his words were silenced as James ripped his head off and threw it down the lab into a large glass tube, the structure cracked and leaked a thick green acid that melted the skin off until only Gauntlet's skull was left.

"I've killed plenty of people but that's the first person I've murdered." James said as Tate touched his exposed shoulder, "We're not the heros of this piece not anymore."

"No," Tate answered, "we're all villains in this story that's what you get when you work for HAMMER or HYDRA."

"Then perhaps it's time to end both of these organizations people like Strucker and Osborne shouldn't be in charge of anything." James replied, "Let's finish the original mission that Task Force HAMMER began. Let's end it for Natasha, for Logan and Toxin, hell even for Ghost and Geode until Osborne is dead they'll never rest in peace." he added picking up Gauntlet's cybernetic eye.

"First we find my children and get them back from HYDRA; I won't let them end up like our team mates." Tate said angrily, "We were set up to fail and I think I know who's behind it."

"Who?" James asked.

"Nike, I don't remember her name but when I find her, she'll wish she was never born." Tate said menacingly, "Bushwhacker and Gauntlet's demise will look gentle compared to what she's going to receive."


	6. The Last of the HYDRA's Heads

**HYDRA BASE, Chilean Andes - 4 Years before the Siege of Asgard**

The blast of light from 99s hands streaked past as Tate lashed out, the beams striking a vat containing an embryo, the fluid inside leaking out as an additional alarm went off announcing a tank rupture. Reacting to her momentary advantage Tate sprayed the girl's hands with an immobilizing adhesive taking her out of the fight. Up on the gantry Strongarm was faring a lot worse against Redback, a dart protruding from his neck. The base shook and a female voice screeched over the bases PA system that the command centre was breached, Tate didn't care if it was Deadpool or SHIELD, just as long as it kept the remainder of HYDRA off her back for a few minutes. Climbing up a maintenance ladder she reached the gantry where Strongarm was sweating and clutching his chest in pain as Redback's venom began to affect his nervous system.

"No you don't 21." Redback stated kicking Tate down off the top of the ladder, "You're not the hero today, you're not even going to be alive to see all your work come to fruition." she added dropping down to the floor before sticking a second dart in Tate's chest. Tate retaliated by kicking up knocking her assailant back before moving to a crouching position, a large curved knife in her hand.

"You should no better." Tate moaned pulling the dart out, "My body rapidly creates anti-venoms if it comes in contact with toxins and poisons."

"That's just to slow you down 21." Redback replied, "Check out my new toys." she said revealing a hideous pair of devices, tubes sticking through her skin. "HYDRA gave me new powers, maybe you'll recognize them." she added spraying a jet of acid onto the floor leaving behind a scorch mark. Tate reacted fast, by the time Redback had fired a second jet, Tate had moved to an adjacent position and slammed her opponent knocking her to the floor before pulling the left sprayer out of Redback's arms sending a spray of acid flying through the air before it landed melting holes in her skin.

"Oh fuck." Redback cursed as Tate pulled out the second sprayer, a second jet of acid released from her arm. Tate cut herself messily and let her blood drip onto Redback's arms, the blood thickening to form a liquid shield over the spray of acid, ceasing the flow of the deadly fluid. Redback reached for a third dart on her belt but Tate acted faster head butting her before knocking the dart away. "What the hell?" Redback asked looking at her arms, the shielding liquid changing from blue to green.

"It's a neutralizing compound mixed in with some powerful tranquilizers. That colour change means that the chemicals successfully entered your bloodstream. You'll be out in three, two…" Redback hit the concrete floor her eyes glazed over. Tate left her heading back up the ladder to check on Strongarm, injecting him with a dark red solution, the anti-venom to the Redback Spider toxin the HYDRA agent had used. Moaning he got to his feet and gave her a look as footsteps could be heard coming from the corridor outside.

"Yah Bob be careful with that loot, or I'll throw ye to the sharks." Deadpool said as he walked past the opened hatch before double-taking, "Those two scurvy knaves look like there going down with the ship." he growled as he dropped a gold chalice filled with gold ingots.

"You look like you need help getting that out." Tate stated, "I have three spare pairs of hands here." she announced.

"Ye be working for me?" Deadpool asked.

"Working with you." Tate stated as Daniel went over to the girl struggling to escape, "What are you doing?" she asked.

"We can't leave her here." Daniel answered, "She's just a kid."

"Tough it's better that she's destroyed with the others so nobody ever gets there hands on the Ubermesch formula again." Tate stated.

"Hurry it up ye lily livered mates, this ship is being scuttled." Deadpool barked as Bob staggered past carrying two mini safes stuffed with plunder.

"Can you really be so cruel?" Daniel asked. Tate sighed and shook her head, "Go." she ordered I'll catch up. Daniel smiled as he picked up the child and headed for the hatch. Tate bent over Redback and attached the wrist sprayers to her own hand before spraying a foam over her face and mouth. "See you in hell Redback." she whispered before turning and running after the others. Opening her eyes Tate saw the glow of an electric lantern lighting up the lab, she slid off the table, something didn't seem right beyond the hole in the ceiling of the room but for now she couldn't put her finger on it.

* * *

><p><strong>Africa First Compound, Botswana - 18:27PM, 23rd August<strong>

Tate trooped up the stairs to find James rolling out a map of the local area, several colourful pins decorating the surface as his armor did a self diagnostic on the damage caused with the battle with Tate and then Gauntlet, Sandman and Bushwhacker.

"HAMMER just took Venomm and Sandman off our hands." he told her as she leaned over the table. "Judging from the CCTV footage from the mansion, Viper and Crossbones went north into the delta."

"That makes sense Strucker's ship and camp is here." Tate said pointing to a green pin to the south west, "Good news my powers are back online." she announced indicating the fresh cut on her wrist.

"My armor is beginning it's repair cycle" James added, "Should be fixed in under an hour. There's something else I checked the footage so we knew the enemies strength, by the looks of it one of your employees was aiding Viper"

"What!" Tate asked angrily, "You must be mistaken."

"No even went with them when Crossbones got the heads up that you were on your way, he took two guards and the children hostage by the looks of it." Tate shook her head but then she thought, the lab security programme was shut down, the formula to neutralize her powers and absence of any major struggle save the fire-fight out front all weighed against David.

"Who warned Crossbones?" Tate asked.

"The signal was untraceable, we will probably never find who they were working with." James answered, "There was something else, the local police reported the death of a man in the village, there trying to ID him, they reckon that his demise is linked to HYDRA."

"As soon as your armours back to 100% we're leaving." Tate ordered, "I can't believe Daniel would betray me like this. If you need me I'll be in the security office." Leaving Tate slipped into the small security room and placed the tape into the recorder and watched the images dance on the screen. The tape she had chosen was the one that she had recorded when she had taken Matthew and Tara to America on a business trip. Afterwards she had taken them to Central Park to blow off some steam, they had been running across the grass when they had met up with their Aunt Tasha. Natasha had warned her that day about HYDRA's decreasing power and how they were likely to make a play for her family. She had replied that HYDRA didn't care about Africa, that they would never look there, if she could go back Tate would have taken up the Avengers offer of sanctuary.

There was a knock on the door and Tate paused the tape before sticking her head around the door to see James standing outside, "We have a visitor." he announced.

Standing outside the remains of the door to the mansion was Commander Kraken and a group of HYDRA agents, there weapons trained on a prisoner. Tate recognized the man as Nelson and her heart jumped for joy to see him alive before taking a nose-dive when she realised that her children were still missing.

"We believe this is yours." Kraken announced

"He does work for me, you can release him." she ordered the agents who relaxed their weapons. "Where did you find him?"

"North of here." Kraken sneered, "Strucker is dead, Viper and her minions attacked, the Baron fought bravely but we were outnumbered by renegade agents and local paramilitary forces."

"Forgive me for not shedding a tear." Tate said sarcastically, "Did Viper still have my children?"

"Yes Madame Hydra." Kraken answered, "What are your orders?" he asked.

"Orders." Tate growled, "You want orders. Here's an order, kill yourself, end this now HYDRA is dead, the last head burnt off."

"But Maam," Kraken protested, "you can't be serious."

"Just let HYDRA die, it's a spent force." Tate ordered, "Strucker is dead, Gorgon is dead, Viper is a traitor, which just leaves you and me out of the commanders and I say let it rot."

"I can't do that Maam." Kraken announced turning away, "HYDRA will prevail all Hail HYDRA."

"Hail HYDRA." the agents announced before following Kraken into the darkened town. Tate rushed out and helped Nelson to his feet, the security guard was covered in deep cuts and extensive bruises. Helped by James the two heros got the guard into the manor and laid him down on one of the lab tables as Tate began to clean his cuts with an anti-coagulant wipe.

"Ms. Williams." Nelson moaned

"It's Tate." Tate replied reflexively, "Nelson I need to know is their any internal damage."

"No they just cut me and beat me during the torture. I was let go so that I could tell you where they are, Viper is going to finish it, Crossbones told her about the deal you made with Strucker."

"Strucker paid for what he said." James murmured, "Tate if they know your coming then it's a trap."

"It's always a trap, Nelson where are they?"

"Chief's Island." Nelson informed, "They have AA Guns, Four Ozcorp Amphibious Assault Craft and a unit of Marani's Paramilitary Force stationed in the area."

"Shouldn't be too hard to crack." James stated.

"They have a buyer for Matthew arriving." Nelson gasped as one of his wounds reopened, "They are coming from America to purchase him from Viper."

"Don't worry they won't get there hands on him." Tate reassured, "James fly into Maan and get an ambulance here ASAP." Tate ordered.

After James left Nelson reached up and pulled Tate close, "There's something you need to know about Daniel."

"I know that he's a traitor."

Nelson shook his head, "We were picking the kids up from school when we were attacked by Crossbones, Zan and another man. We fought bravely until the man took a knife and killed Daniel. I blacked out afterwards only to find him…" Nelson began to cough and splutter before falling unconciouss.

"Nelson stay with me." Tate ordered compressing the man's chest, "Come on stay with me I can here the sirens." Nelsons heart was fluttering as James and the paramedics arrived before wheeling him into a beat up dust covered ambulance the siren screaming. Inside the beep of the heat monitor could be heard before the doors were shut and the vehicle disappeared in a cloud of dust back towards Maan.


	7. Mothers and Daughters

Tate crouched in the undergrowth watching as the two men clad in HYDRA Armor walked along the game trail, oblivious to her presence. It was clear that HYDRA had set up rotating two man patrols around the perimeter of the hidden Command Ship. The patrols themselves were armed with pulse rifles, flare guns and radios with each patrol keeping a thirty second gap between them. Getting past would be hard since at any one time more then one patrol would see an attack, no matter how stealthy the one in-front. Tate smiled as the second patrol walked under the spot-lights, HYDRA had set the perimeter up so that a smart attacker or infiltrator would be stumped but the hadn't taken the local wildlife into account. Clicking the button on the tape recorder strapped to her waist, Tate held her breath as the recorded cough of a leopard sounded. Seconds later the canopy above her burst into life as the monkeys and birds panicked at the sound of the phantom big cat, while all along the perimeter the HYDRA agents stopped and paused unaware of a third HYDRA agent dash from the bushes and across the path.

"I'm past the patrols." Tate whispered as she passed a ragged group of militia men, no doubt Marani's guerrillas enjoying a smoke, "Any sign of the buyers."

"Nothing." James replied from his Overwatch position up in the clouds, "I got a brief glimpse of Crossbones moving your daughter from one of the tents to the ship."

"Roger that, I'll call if I need an air-strike." Tate whispered as she walked past an antiquated Flak 88 Gun, its crew rolling dice as HYDRA agents stood sentry around the Command Ship, the HYDRA logo sneering as if knowing it was out of place in this natural environment. Sneering and not caring, Tate thought, if what Kraken had said was correct HYDRA wouldn't be a problem for not much longer.

"James there's a strange smell around here. It's almost like that odour you get from really old copy machines." Tate informed slipping round the back of a stolen Botswanan Army Hellbender Hovercraft.

"Ozone?" James asked, "That's odd, okay I've got you on scope, from what I can see there are three tents and the command ship, numbers are about forty individuals in and around the camp, with an unknown amount in the ship, if your going to do this do it quiet."

"Or loud, HYDRA has a generator set up to power the spot lights, from the look of it the majority are not carrying any kind of night vision apparatus." Tate informed, "Where as I am."

"Okay get in position and wave when you're ready." James replied as Tate slunk into one of the tents. From his Overwatch position he saw the three agents inside heat signatures flare before disappearing.

"First tent clear, no sign of prime targets." Tate whispered re-emerging from the tent before moving past a group of HYDRA agents moving a crate towards the Command Ship.

"Hey you." one asked, "Give us a hand with this."

"Okay," Tate replied holstering the pulse rifle she was carrying on her back, "What the hell's in here anyway it weighs a ton."

"Payment." the HYDRA Agent replied, "Viper got an imperial ton in gold bullion for selling the kid to the buyer."

"Which one, I've heard that there are two." Tate asked

"The boy I think, Viper is keeping the girl." the agent replied as the three of them reached the ship, "Says she wants to be out of here before Williams arrives, reckons that she would burn this whole camp down to get her kid."

"Williams is nasty." Tate answered as the three of them put the crate down next to a robotic loading arm protruding from the ship's hull, "So who was the buyer."

"You're asking a lot of questions?" the agent replied as the second loader cocked his pulse rifle. Tate smiled under the mask, this guy was sharper then the usual drone.

"I ask because I was on outer security, I rotated in a few minutes ago." Tate lied

"Security doesn't rotate in until after we kill the militia." the agent announced.

"I know." Tate lied, "I was testing you as per HYDRA doctrine 77.30 Section 12. You'll be pleased to know that you passed." The HYDRA agent relaxed, "You on the other hand." she told the second agent, "didn't, I suspect that he's a spy." she announced blasting the second agent with her a pistol. "We've been compromised soldier open fire." she yelled as the first agent fidgeted before following her example and opening fire until the entire camp had erupted into a massive fire-fight. Slipping into the ship Tate dodged a squad of troops leaving the vessel before heading past the cargo bay and towards the luxury compartment where Viper, Crossbones, Strongarm and a pair of guards looked around nervously as General Marani held Tara in a hostage position.

"What's going on out there soldier?" Viper asked

"Marani's men betrayed us, we're under attack." Tate lied blasting Marani who looked surprised as Tara wriggled free only to be grabbed by Strongarm.

"You two come with me," Crossbones growled leading the guards outside.

"Now James," Tate whispered as she watched them leave.

"You what's your name." Viper asked

"You know my name." Tate said switching the voice modulator in the armor off, "Isn't that right mum?" she asked blasting the computerized control to the door locking all four of them in the ship.

"Well Odette, finally you arrive." Viper purred walking over and removing the helmet to see Tate's face, "I must give you credit, you always have managed to slip through our security." she added, "This is the last time." she said slapping Tate in the face, "You'll do what I say or 019 squeezes."

"Naturally." Tate admitted, "Don't worry Tara this will be quick." as Viper handed her a Magnum Revolver.

"Kill yourself in front of your child." Viper commanded. Tate took the gun and placed it under her throat and squeezed the trigger clicking as tears streamed down her face.

"Mum please no." Tara cried struggling

"Oh I did mention that only the last chamber is loaded." Viper sneered, "Keep going."

Tate squeezed again as Tara began to cry, "Mum please stop."

"Don't worry Tara honey, it's going to be fine." Tate assured her as she continued to cry watching as her tears pooled on the floor. Pulling the trigger again and again Tate counted down the bullets as Viper grew more excited, as Tate pulled the trigger the fifth time a single tear dropped to the floor before igniting the puddle with a bright flash followed by a shot. As the light cleared Viper looked around to see Strongarm getting to his feet a bullet wound to his chest bleeding out as Tate and Tara slipped into the cockpit. Following the fugitives Viper arrived to see the two women had vanished and the pilots dead as outside explosions rocked the camp.

"Find them." she yelled at Strongarm.

Outside Tate ran across the camp as James continued to strafe the remaining HYDRA agents as they stumbled around the darkened camp. As they reached the edge of the cleared land, Tate heard a shot and stumbled as a rifle round sliced through her legs. "James get Tara out of here." she growled through gritted teeth, "Listen Tara you have to go with uncle Rhodes, he'll look after you but I promise that I'm coming for you and then we're going to find your brother. Tara nodded as James landed and picked up the girl and flew off as Tate felt the pointed end of a crossbow bolt rest against the back of her skull.

"One of your bolts I believe." Crossbones sneered, "Tipped with a deadly acid, fast acting too. It's only fitting that you die this way." Tate nodded before she rose to her feet, her hands above her head. "Any last words bitch?" Crossbones asked.

"Just one trivial question." Tate announced, "Is that my old bow your using?"

"Yeah I got it from your mansion." Crossbones announced, "Why?"

"No reason." Tate announced as the ground shook slightly as something heavy landed before hearing Crossbones' scream of pain as James punched him round the back of the head. Twisting she knocked the bow complete with the bolt upwards, the lethal projectile embedding in the mercenaries face. Crossbones screamed as he ran towards the water as lumps of flesh melted from the wound as the acid spread across his face.

"You came back." Tate said as she felt the wounds on her legs coagulate, it wasn't a permanent fix but it would keep her in the fight for a few more minutes.

"Tara's safe, I dropped her off with the rangers on the barge." James explained, "Now let's finish Viper and be done with this." he grunted.

"First we need the name of the buyer." Tate corrected, "Although I have the feeling she won't give it up without a fight."

"Why don't we ask her ourselves." James replied pointing at Viper and Strongarm who were running towards one of the Hovercraft. "I'll take the arms, you just get her to spill her guts." he ordered as he flew towards on an intercept course with the escaping HYDRA leadership. Tate followed and managed to board the vehicle as Viper fiddled with the navigational controls while James and Strongarm engaged each other in a fist fight. Viper seeing her approach lashed out with a bull whip, the end curling around the Hellbender's Mounted Machine Gun, the weapon spitting rounds of tracer fire back towards Tate and James. Dropping to a prone position, Tate felt the vehicle's diesel engine rumble as it began to head towards the water. Crawling forwards she reached the machine gun and spun it round towards Viper who dropped the bull whip and ducked out of the weapon's rate of fire.

Meanwhile at the back of the Hovercraft the duelling titans slipped down closer towards the vessels impeller, the titanium tipped blade spinning at an incredibly fast speed. James dodged and weaved around his opponent who lashed out with all four fists, the majority missing his target but the few blows he did land caused shockwaves to travel through the armor and some of the weaker plates to crack.

"I'll enjoy wearing you Mr. Rhodes." Strongarm hissed as he wrapped his arms around his victim before constricting him, the armour's pressure sensors screaming as the outer shell began to crack and crumble.

"So Tate's hunch was right." James wheezed, "You're not the real Daniel, you're the Cannibal, this makes things all the more easier."

Viper popped back up again this time wielding an RPG Launcher, "This time it ends my daughter." she sneered, "You're nothing but a disappointment but at least I won't go down alone." she added swinging the weapon around to a dot of light on the horizon. Tate followed the weapon's aim and realized what Viper was aiming at as the Hovercraft blindly blundered towards the barge that she had used to reach the island in the first place. "Say goodbye to your daughter." Viper added as Tate grabbed the dropped bull-whip and snapped it at Viper the tip slashing her eye and causing her to jerk upwards as she fired, the rocket sailing off far from the barge.

James activated the suits Repulsors and flew straight into the Impeller the blade screeching as he passed through with Strongarm still wrapped around him. Bloodied he saw what had been a man floating in the water, no part of the remains any larger then a finger still intact as the mangled Impeller Blade came to a halt. Advancing along the craft he landed and watched as Tate tackled Viper beating her in the face before wrapping her in the whip, her arms and legs bound.

"Who did you sell Matthew to?" Tate yelled pulling out a knife from her armor.

"There's nothing that you can do to me to make me tell you that." Viper replied.

"Sadly I know that's the truth." Tate sighed as she cut Viper's cheek, "I won't miss you mother." she added as she pushed the former HYDRA leader into the water.

"This isn't over Odette." Viper yelled unaware of the shape moving through the water towards her. Suddenly she shuddered as something nudged her under the water before spotting the glowing pink eyes of the massive Nile Crocodile moments before it pulled her under the water.

Tate slumped down to sit on the hovercraft before turning to see James his armor ripped and bruised, "It's over." he announced, Tate nodded to see the Nile Crocodile slip under the water again as the Ranger's Barge closed in, Tara wrapped in a blanket.

"No it's not." she whispered.


	8. Epilouge: Still in the Crosshairs

Tate ran her fingers over one of the boxes of gold bars that she had salvaged from the HYDRA ship, Nelson had been released and was back in the mansion sleeping while Tara sat across the table looking quizzically at the treasure.

"Can we keep it?" she asked.

"No." Tate replied, "Although I have no idea where it came from or who to drop it off with."

"I do." James replied walking through the door and holding a gold brick. "At least some of the gold is from the Strucker family fortune, the rest like this was stolen from the US Gold Depository. I alerted the treasury and they will send an agent to pick up any US property. The rest is anyone's who wishes to claim it since it's officially classed as spoils of war."

"So Strucker paid Viper for Matthew, that makes no sense." Tate sighed.

"It does if you check the news." James replied, "Something I heard Ghost mention before the last mission together. HAMMER seized Strucker's Vault and confiscated it, I'm guessing our dear employers have something to do with this."

"So we can't keep it?" Tara asked.

"No." Tate repeated, "This is blood money, we can't accept this, not after what they did to Uncle Daniel." Tate had explained what had happened although she had omitted some of the more gory parts. Tara had understood and eventually Tate revealed everything; about how HYDRA had created them both, how she had abducted Tara and the reasons why.

"I'll just keep these playing cards then." Tara muttered shuffling some large cards.

"Where did you get those?" Tate asked as she caught a glimpse of something familiar.

"They were on the table." Tara said, "There was a note that said all in play." Tate took the cards and saw that they were the same Tarot Cards she had seen online in New York. They were all their a woman sitting on a mountain, a Symbiote and Man embrace together, the armoured Hierophant, the hanging ghost, a woman sitting on a throne with streaked hair in purple robes, a naked man with claws killing a lion, a woman dressed in black carrying a shield and scales and of course the angel dressed just like her.

"These came as well." Tara added sliding a box across the table top. Tate opened it to see a sleek pair of wrist sprayer's dyed matte black. There was a note with times and dates as well as a red spider with a black hourglass on its abdomen.

"I know where to start." Tate said smiling at James before glancing towards the HYDRA command ship parked outside, "And I know how to get there."

"Where?" James asked

"America, James there alive and the rest of Nike's gang is going after them." she announced

"Then it's time we saved them." James replied placing the gold on the table.

Down by Chief's Island a figure crawled out of the water, his face bleeding and raw, the muscle barley stretched across his skull exposed to the elements. Crossbones rubbed his face before looking at his reflection, smiling at what he had become. Cackling manically he headed for the remaining Hovercraft before activating the engine and heading north towards the border.


End file.
